ven their best
to England,' he said, 'and in return have been given only England's
worst.'" It is certain that Germany, once in possession of Ireland,
would assuredly not give to that country only Germany's worst.

In a score of ways Ireland would stand to gain from the change of
direction, of purpose, of intention, and, I will add, of inspiration
and capacity in her newly-imposed rulers.

Whether she liked them or not, at the outset, would be beside the
question. In this they would differ but little from those she had so
long and wearily had measure of, and if they brought to their new task
a new spirit and a new intellectual equipment Irishmen would not be
slow to realize that if they themselves were never to rule their own
country, they had, at least, found in their new masters something more
than emigration agents.

Moreover, to Germany there would be no "Irish question," no "haggard
and haunting problem" to palsy her brain and miscredit her hand with
its old tags and jibes and sordid impulses to deny the obvious.

To Germany there would be only an English question. To prevent that
from ever again imperilling her world future would be the first
purpose of German overseas statesmanship. And it is clear that a wise
and capable Irish Administration, designed to build up and strengthen
from within and not to belittle and exploit from without, would be the
sure and certain purpose of a victorious Germany.

I have now outlined the two possible dispositions of Ireland that up
to this British opinion admits as conceivable in die improbable event
of a British defeat by Germany. Only these two contingencies are
ever admitted. First that Ireland, sharing the common disaster, must
endure with her defeated partner all the evils that a great overthrow
must inflict upon the United Kingdom. Second, that Ireland, if Great
Britain should be completely defeated, might conceivably be "taken" or
annexed by the victor and held as a conquered territory, and in this
guise would bitterly regret the days of her union with Great Britain.
I have sought to show, in answer to the latter argument, that were
annexation by the victor indeed to follow a British defeat Ireland
might very conceivably find the changed circumstances greatly to her
advantage.

But there is a third contingency I have nowhere seen discussed or
hinted at, and yet it is at least as likely as No. 1, and far more
probable than No. 2--for I do not think that the annexati